Pedal Height/Placement Issues

I drive a 2006 Nissan Murano.
I have given up driving with boots or any thick wide-soled shoes. I
may be describing a common complaint, but in my case, it poses a real
danger.
Apparently when I brake, the left front edge of my right foot is
just bearly making contact with the brake pedal, so that the foot
spans the gap between the brake and accelerator and also makes contact
with the accelerator. This has caused the vehicle to surge slightly
forward on a couple of occasions rather than braking properly. To
avoid this I have to consciously make certain that my heel is placed
directly under the brake pedal, but I don't always think of this.
(Normally I tend to pivot on the heel rather than lifting my foot from
one pedal to the other.)
Should it be necessary to pay such close attention to how the foot
makes contact with the pedals, or are the pedals set incorrectly, or
is my technique totally wrong? Or is there another solution?? I only
feel safe driving with dress shoes!
Thanks for your advice.
Frank

On 05/15/2012 04:29 PM, frank1492 wrote:
> I drive a 2006 Nissan Murano.
> I have given up driving with boots or any thick wide-soled shoes. I
> may be describing a common complaint, but in my case, it poses a real
> danger.
> Apparently when I brake, the left front edge of my right foot is
> just bearly making contact with the brake pedal, so that the foot
> spans the gap between the brake and accelerator and also makes contact
> with the accelerator. This has caused the vehicle to surge slightly
> forward on a couple of occasions rather than braking properly. To
> avoid this I have to consciously make certain that my heel is placed
> directly under the brake pedal, but I don't always think of this.
> (Normally I tend to pivot on the heel rather than lifting my foot from
> one pedal to the other.)
> Should it be necessary to pay such close attention to how the foot
> makes contact with the pedals, or are the pedals set incorrectly, or
> is my technique totally wrong? Or is there another solution?? I only
> feel safe driving with dress shoes!
> Thanks for your advice.
> Frank

unless this is a vehicle that's had the master cylinder inexpertly
replaced, or there's something else drastically wrong, the pedal spacing
and height should have been set at factory and will not have changed.
thus, this would be a design issue and there's not much you can do other
than get smaller feet, or a different vehicle more sensibly designed.

your complaint though is not uncommon. many newer cars are designed
this way as it reduces driver "fatigue" with pedal angles, but with my
big feet, i too have been known to span two pedals at once - not a great
idea if it's not intended. so, like you, i have a light pair of shoes,
or even go barefoot when driving to mitigate the risk.


--
nomina rutrum rutrum

frank1492 wrote:

> I drive a 2006 Nissan Murano.
> I have given up driving with boots or any thick wide-soled shoes. I
> may be describing a common complaint, but in my case, it poses a real
> danger.
> Apparently when I brake, the left front edge of my right foot is
> just bearly making contact with the brake pedal, so that the foot
> spans the gap between the brake and accelerator and also makes contact
> with the accelerator.

Hmm. In every vehicle I've seen (except for some real oldies with
accelerator between the clutch and brake), the brake pedal sits much higher
than the accelerator. So much higher that you'd really have to twist your
foot to make contact with both pedals simultaneously.

Its possible that this model (or this vehicle) has its brake pedal set too
low. I'm not certain if this is adjustable. But you might want to have that
looked at. Its also possible that your brakes are so soft, the pedal is
depressing too low when the brakes are applied.

--
Paul Hovnanian
------------------------------------------------------------------
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world,
those who understand binary and those who don't.

On May 15, 7:29*pm, frank1492 > wrote:
> I drive a 2006 Nissan Murano.
> I have given up driving with boots or any thick wide-soled shoes. I
> may be describing a common complaint, but in my case, it poses a real
> danger.
> * * Apparently when I brake, the left front edge of my right foot is
> just bearly making contact with the brake pedal, so that the foot
> spans the gap between the brake and accelerator and also makes contact
> with the accelerator. This has caused the vehicle to surge slightly
> forward on a couple of occasions rather than braking properly. To
> avoid this I have to consciously make certain that my heel is placed
> directly under the brake pedal, but I don't always think of this.
> (Normally I tend to pivot on the heel rather than lifting my foot from
> one pedal to the other.)
> * * Should it be necessary to pay such close attention to how the foot
> makes contact with the pedals, or are the pedals set incorrectly, or
> is my technique totally wrong? Or is there another solution?? I only
> feel safe driving with dress shoes!
> * * *Thanks for your advice.
> * * * * * Frank

I think this is one of those situations where I'm going to say the
manufacturer is "right" and you're experiencing operator error, but
someone looking at the situation from another perspective would say
that the manufacturer used an inappropriate pedal layout for the
vehicle's target market. I say this not to be mean or derogatory but
an enthusiast driver will often complain that the gas and brake are
too far apart, and that it is too difficult to hit both with the right
foot simultaneously. One would want to do this for a vehicle with a
manual transmission to facilitate rev-matched downshifts, among other
things (but that's the most common example.)

Where this causes problems is when a pedal layout appropriate for a
sports car is used in a vehicle popular with non-enthusiast drivers
(I'm suspecting that this is what happened with Audi) either because
of using an already designed pedal cluster that was used on a sporty-
type vehicle or because of footwell space limitations; the situation
you describe can happen with drivers who aren't used to deliberately
moving their foot all the way off the accelerator and onto the brake
pedal.

So, really, who's right? Who can say. I haven't driven a Murano, but
from your description, it sounds like a pedal layout that I personally
would consider "correct." However, clearly you do not... That said,
I see other posters have responded asking about the height of the
pedal. If it feels soft or spongy at all, you may want to have the
dealer take a look at it; I agree that the brake pedal usually in
most vehicles is at least at a slightly higher *plane* than the
accelerator.

nate

"N8N" > wrote in message news:f4a1d458-6c41-4ad2-852c-
So, really, who's right? Who can say. I haven't driven a Murano, but
from your description, it sounds like a pedal layout that I personally
would consider "correct." However, clearly you do not... That said,
I see other posters have responded asking about the height of the
pedal. If it feels soft or spongy at all, you may want to have the
dealer take a look at it; I agree that the brake pedal usually in
most vehicles is at least at a slightly higher *plane* than the
accelerator.

nate

****
If it is a big enough pain in the tukus, it is not too hard to modify the
pedals, whether the manufacturer left that option or not.

I think that they should have named this car something not quite so
near to "marano"

On 05/19/2012 02:09 PM, hls wrote:
>
> "N8N" > wrote in message news:f4a1d458-6c41-4ad2-852c-
> So, really, who's right? Who can say. I haven't driven a Murano, but
> from your description, it sounds like a pedal layout that I personally
> would consider "correct." However, clearly you do not... That said,
> I see other posters have responded asking about the height of the
> pedal. If it feels soft or spongy at all, you may want to have the
> dealer take a look at it; I agree that the brake pedal usually in
> most vehicles is at least at a slightly higher *plane* than the
> accelerator.
>
> nate
>
> ****
> If it is a big enough pain in the tukus, it is not too hard to modify
> the pedals, whether the manufacturer left that option or not.

name one vehicle with any adjustable pedal like the op needs. just one.

as for the naivete of this statement, you're clearly unaware of the
safety and fatigue resistance requirements for vehicle control pedals.
to spell it out simply, failure is not an option. anyone modifying a
pedal is asking for a failure unless they go to great lengths to
mitigate fatigue, and know exactly what they're doing.


>
> I think that they should have named this car something not quite so
> near to "marano"

what should we name you, given your complete inability to do anything
other than waste electrons with completely meaningless drivel?


--
nomina rutrum rutrum